1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for imaging with an appropriate imaging direction and an appropriate imaging magnification adopted in an imaging apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An imaging apparatus is known which can image arbitrary regions by remotely controlling a changing of an imaging direction (i.e., panning or tilting) and a changing of an imaging magnification (i.e., zooming) of a camera via a network. Such a camera is used, for example, in a remote monitoring system or a videoconferencing system.
A conventional technique is discussed in regard to the controlling of panning, tilting, zooming of such a camera in which an image picked up by the camera and a GUI (Graphical User Interface) for controlling the camera are displayed on a display unit, and the controlling is performed using the GUI (e.g., see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-009231). Accordingly, the imaging direction and the imaging magnification of the camera can be adjusted by remote control so that a region desired to be viewed can be imaged.
The imaging direction and the imaging magnification of the camera can also be stored beforehand. For example, when a plurality of regions are desired to be imaged, the imaging direction or the imaging magnification does not need to be adjusted using the GUI for each imaging operation of the regions. Instead, the imaging direction and the imaging magnification of the camera stored beforehand can be called and set for the camera so that each of the regions can be imaged. Accordingly, the regions to be imaged can be changed easily.
However, in order to image a wide-range region, for example by a monitoring system, a large number of imaging directions and imaging magnifications need to be stored beforehand. When one range is to be divided into a plurality of regions to be imaged, it is not easy to set the divided regions to cover the whole range.